Election coverage: Justin Di Ciano

Justin Di Ciano, who was considered the main contender to beat long time Ward 5 councillor Peter Milczyn, had to wait over four hours on election night only to find out that he had lost by a margin of just 0.46 per cent.

Named the 2010 Etobicoke hero of the year for community service, Di Ciano decided to run because he thought “the community [needed] to become more socially and culturally integrated and self-sustaining.”

And indeed, for four hours after the polls closed, it looked like Di Ciano was ahead of Milczyn by 66 votes.

Early Monday night, Di Ciano’s campaign office at the corner of Bloor Street and Islington Avenue was a site of jubilation. By as early as 8:15 p.m., CP24 had declared Milzcyn defeated.

At the sight of the red checkmark beside Di Ciano’s name on TV, his family and supporters who were huddled around a single computer erupted into screams and shouts, jumping and hugging each other.

Di Ciano remained cautious.

“Relax,” he said. “It’s far from over.”

By 9 p.m., with 96 per cent of the votes in and what appeared to be a long wait ahead, he was worried.

“It’s down to the wire,” he said, his forehead wrinkled in a frown. “I don’t know if we’re going to win this thing.”

John Chiappetta, and Rob Therrien, and former MPP and councillor of Etobicoke, Morley Kells were also in the running.

The delay on election Monday was caused by a malfunctioning voting machine at the Stonegate Road polling station, leaving 86 ballots uncounted.

Officials decided that the ballots would be taken to Scarborough for a recount. In the presence of Milczyn supporters and Julien Di Ciano, Justin’s brother, the ballots were reprocessed. Twelve ballots had to be re-marked on separate ballots and fed through the machine again since the machine would not process them.

With the long wait ahead, everyone moved to Di Ciano’s after-party in a private room at the Crooked Cue pub to await the results. Standing in front of the crowd, Di Ciano declared that, win or lose, he intended to enjoy his party. Receiving constant updates from his brother regarding the last count, Di Ciano mingled with his supporters. Many assumed he had already won.

By midnight, the much smaller crowd’s mounting frustration was obvious, many calling the delay ridiculous. Even Di Ciano’s mother decided to head home.

At 1:25 a.m., when everyone had moved into a corner by the main bar, Justin received a message from his brother. His voice cut through the conversations.

“Guys, we lost.”

The delayed ballots gave Milczyn the extra 107 votes he needed to retain his seat.

Dead silence followed the unexpected announcement, broken by Justin who, still seated, began thanking everyone for their help in the campaign. Shocked and tearful, his remaining supporters hugged each other.

Walking up to the bar, Justin grabbed a shot glass that the bartender, unasked, had put down.

“It is what it is,” he said, retaining his composure.

With such a tight vote, Justin said he may ask for a recount. But he was relaxed.

“I just want to go home and sleep. It’s been a hard, long-fought campaign … I’m going on vacation for a week.”

He thanked his supporters throughout Ward 5.

“[I’m] humbled. It was a wonderful experience to go to all those doors and listen to all those wonderful comments … [it] made it worthwhile.”

Di Ciano’s campaign covered a range of issues across Ward 5. If elected, he intended to set up a business improvement area on The Queensway and get rid of body-rub and holistic massage parlours.

He also planned to cut down on high-rise development on The Kingsway, encourage small-business development through the ward, spearhead community safety initiatives, and revisit the development of the Etobicoke Civic Centre and Six Points interchange.

The campaign had been rife with accusations of smear tactics. Di Ciano claimed that Milczyn had tried to persuade voters that there was a relationship amounting to a conflict-of-interest between Dunpar Developments – a construction company Di Ciano’s brother works for – and Justin.

Di Ciano will now focus on a lawsuit he has launched against all parties involved in a call made to voters the weekend before the election. The call suggested that Di Ciano had been accepting vacations and contributions from Dunpar Developments.

Amidst shouts against the information in the phone call, Di Ciano raised his voice. “I’ll tell ya, there’s a good lawsuit coming in … that lawsuits gonna feel real good.”